Yes, this is my fourth post about getting 2 year old Audrey to (insert expletive here) eat. But happily, this is the most success I’ve had and a major source of calories.

And yes, I have asked myself how Audrey would have gotten along in the caveperson days before blenders were around. I have no answer for that. I only have this recipe for modern parents who want to stop pulling their hair out.

If you have three minutes in Santa Monica, swing by the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Not only is there a gigantic cactus garden planted in an old Mercedes, there is an epic video installation by Marco Brambilla. My favorite piece being the gigantic 3D video collage showing the evolution of man through cinema. You’ll spot clips from the I Heart Huckabees, Star Wars, and everything in between looping every three minutes. I would have watched it at least five times, but the two-year-old preferred to play with the rubber chicken in the gift shop

At a recent trip to The Getty, two things happened. First, baby Audrey excitedly pointed out that “The Getty Museum” sounds a lot like “Spaghetti Museum.” Imagine her disappointment when we finally arrived…

Second, Ms. Spaghetti Pants fell asleep in the Ergo carrier for awhile and I got a chance to fall in love with the photograph below. Communism vs capitalism and every social structure in between is on the very top of my things-to-ponder-and-discuss list. This photo taken by Alberto Korda at a rally in Cuba in 1959 just speaks volumes.

Talk about cliche. A pic of a kid with spaghetti in her nose? But this is special spaghetti. As I’ve mentioned in part 1 and part 2, I can’t get my child to eat. At our last checkup Dr. Barrow said Audrey is borderline anemic. He said to give her leafy greens. FAT CHANCE. I can barely get the kid to eat ice cream let alone LEAFY GREENS. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

So in order sneak iron into her diet without resulting to supplements, I’ve been cooking everything in a cast iron pan. According to Alice when you cook tomatoes or other acidic foods in iron, the amount of dietary iron jumps significantly (like from .6mg to 5.7mg ). For Audrey’s spaghetti, I browned some organic grassfed beef in my cast iron and then added classic organic marinara sauce over it and let it simmer on low for about a half hour. She ate it. Well, she ate some. V for Victory.

Audrey somehow manages to subsist on pears, milk and sunshine. The child will just not eat. So I turned to my fave baby instruction book: “The Baby Book” by the Sears folks. I’m a big Sears Family fan. They’re proponents of Attachment Parenting… which boils down to this: There are no shortcuts in parenting. Do it the hard way without weird gimicky tricks and it will pay off in the end. It’s a child-centered philosophy, which I like.

Anyway, their idea of getting a toddler to eat is to give them options. He is a big proponent of the snack tray. Put out a bunch of healthy snacks in a little tray and let your child graze all day. It has actually worked a little. And it’s really interesting how Audrey chooses something different to eat every day. Toddlers are darn picky by nature, and this little snack tray idea lets them be super finicky… but still eat something.

It’s working for now. I’m pulling less hair out, and sleeping more at night knowing she ate seven peas and a ravioli.

This is at the Huntley Hotel’s restaurant. If you haven’t been there, go check it out. The decor is outrageously awesome and hideous. The view is amazing. This is a self pic of me through the chandelier in the women’s restroom. After a mimosa at brunch.

I got some Swiss chard in my grocery delivery box last week and I made White-Bean Chard Soup. The recipe calls for chicken broth… but veggie broth is an easy sub. Hearty, healthy, and yummy. The pic below was the garlic, red peppers and cilantro sizzling away.

I get everything delivered. Oatmeal. Diapers. Books. I’m a big time internet shopper. So I was really stoked to find a new company called SPUD. They deliver organic groceries. And they do it right.

Things I love about them:

- They tell you how many miles your food came from in your itemized receipt. Last week my eggs came from 30 miles away (yay!).

- Groceries get delivered in a reusable produce box that they pick up the next week. They are very conservative with their plastic produce bag usage too.

- They pick and choose a produce box for me (love the variety of having someone else choose!) but I can go on their website and modify it according to my needs. They send me an email every week as a reminder to let me know when the deadline is.

- The selection is great. So I can now get eggs, milk, salmon, bread, etc delivered to my doorstep.

The price is about the same as my local grocery. But if you’ve been to the Whole Foods in Santa Monica, you’ll know that the merchandisers are evil geniuses preying on the buying impulses of harried mothers. So I actually save money.

Do I miss the community feeling of going to a grocery store? Hell no. I can use that time to do other community things like taking Audrey to the park or library. Hooray for internet shopping. Hooray for SPUD.

About the Author

Summer Bowen is the Founder of eco-fashion shop BTC Elements. When not running her business, she can be found tending to her organic porch garden, politicking with girlfriends, or pounding away at her laptop in a local café.

Summer lives in Santa Monica, CA with her sweet-hearted musician husband and new baby girl.